REV. RONALD RIGOVSKY, LEADER OF ACADEMY

Kenan Heise, Tribune Staff WriterCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Rev. Ronald Rigovsky, 61, a Catholic priest and member of the Benedictine Order, was president emeritus of Benet Academy in Lisle, a college-preparatory high school that he helped develop into one of the highest scoring and most scholastically respected high schools in the Chicago area.

A resident of St. Patrick Residence in Naperville, he died there Sunday of complications of Alzheimer's disease.

"Father Ron," as he was known at the school, entered the novitiate at St. Procopius Abbey and the Benedictine Order in 1953. He was ordained in 1960 but started teaching at the high school, then known as St. Procopius Academy, before his ordination. Four years later, he was appointed principal.

During his 23 years as principal, the school's physical plant expanded greatly. St. Procopius merged in 1967 with the adjacent, all-girl Sacred Heart Academy and became Benet.

An estimated 99 percent of its students go to college.

Father Rigovsky became president of the school in 1987 and president emeritus in 1992.

He said mass on weekends at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Lisle from 1963 to 1976 and at St. Margaret Mary in Downers Grove for the next four years.

There are no immediate survivors.

Mass will be said at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in St. Procopius Abbey Church, 5601 College Rd., Lisle.